YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

With the sweeping romance of Passenger and the dark fantasy edge of This Savage Song, this standout YA contemporary fantasy debut from Vanessa Len, is the first in a planned trilogy.

It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.

But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn’t just a cute boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.

As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.

Only a Monster (Monsters #1) by Vanessa Len will be one of our MMC GBRs for August 2022.

Please read at your own pace, and hide any spoilers ☺ You are welcome to join at any time during the month ☺

Happy Reading Everybody

Pre-Reading Questions -

Anybody got any thoughts on this one before we start?

Has anyone read anything similar to this before?

Anybody read anything else by this author previously?

Chapter 1
(view spoiler)[ Joan's compassion for Mr. Solt immediately makes me like her. I love that even a monster family likes to tease each other. lol (hide spoiler)]

Starting this one now!

Chapter 3: (view spoiler)[ I feel bad for Joan. Her family should have told her exactly what their powers were before she just lost a day. I felt so bad because she was so excited for her date! I do like her family but I wish they would have been more open with her. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 8: (view spoiler)[ ok i did not expect her entire family to die. That was all kinds fo horrible. But i do think her cousin got out and is possibly still alive. Now shes trapped in 1993 with her enemy. Things are getting very interesting. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 12: (view spoiler)[ ok i knew her cousin was alive. So glad they found each other. But whats all this about how joan wasnt supposed to have magic. I wonder if shes somehow connected to this king who changed everything (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 18: (view spoiler)[ ok what is going on? Tom knows something and i just want to know what! I bet you joan isnt a hunt. She has to be connected to the king somehow (hide spoiler)]

Finished: (view spoiler)[ so i dont know how i feel about the true love aspect. Like these two people were soul mates and because they weren't together the timeline was screwed? But i want to know what happened to everyone when she reset it. Theres sl many unanswered questions here. (hide spoiler)]

10%

(view spoiler)[I love how Joan’s family is so carefree. They seem so close to each other.

I really love Joan’s compassion and concern for Mr. Solt.

I admit that I am a little confused. So each monster family has a different ability and their family’s ability is to steal time or life from humans? But where does the time travel come in? At any rate, it was awful of her family to not tell Joan about this power until something happened to her.

The intensity of what Joan feels for Nick seems out of place. I mean, she just met him. She said that the day she met him she felt like she had known him her entire life and that she recognized him. That seems strange. It sounds like she is truly in love with this boy she doesn’t know. And she even goes on to tell herself that she has to say goodbye to him because she couldn’t lie to him about being a monster.

All of the people popping into existence must have been something to see. I guess the cat’s out of the bag now. Nick definitely saw. (hide spoiler)]

Ashley W wrote: "Chapter 1
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yes, this exactly. I loved Joan's concern and compassion for Mr. Solt. I also loved how close the family seemed. (hide spoiler)]

Jenn wrote: "Chapter 3: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I agree. They shouldn't have left her in the dark. (hide spoiler)]

♛Vanessa♛ wrote: ."

You hit the nail on the head with all of that lol

21%

(view spoiler)[I’m rather liking the concept of this book. It’s clever and interesting to me.

The Olivers seemed so disgusted by the fact that Joan was half monster and half human. I wonder what difference it makes? And how could they tell?

So we finally see that Nick is a monster hunter. I wonder why he was so concerned with whether the Olivers hurt Joan if he kills her kind.

Well, the Olivers and the Hunts were wiped out by Nick and his monster hunters. Are Aaron and Joan the only ones left? And was Nick really going to protect her? If she had stayed in the room like he told her then would they have just let her go?

I am curious about this power that Joan’s grandmother told her that she has and why she told her not to tell anyone about it, not even her cousin. And why is she the only one that can stop this super soldier or whatever he’s called? (hide spoiler)]

Jenn wrote: "Chapter 8: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yeah, I wasn't expecting her entire family to get axed. And now she is with Aaron and he seems as pleasant as a root canal. Plus, his family and hers are enemies or rivals so there's that. I am kind of interested if there will be a love triangle with Joan, Aaron, and Nick. Feels like there might be. (hide spoiler)]

28%

(view spoiler)[So the Olivers family power is that they can tell if someone is a monster or not? I guess that explains why they knew what she was and that she was half human. But isn’t that power kind of lame? What is the Hunt family power?

It’s so sad that Joan had to say goodbye to her father. If you can’t be in the same time twice then maybe she can come back at the point where she left.

Aaron seems a little spoiled but I think I like him so far. I liked how easily he gravitated to helping Joan learn how to time jump. When she was struggling he encouraged her and he actually seemed compassionate. (hide spoiler)]

38%

(view spoiler)[It’s kind of annoying how Joan ignores everything Aaron has to say just because she doesn’t like it. She doesn’t have a clue how the monster world works but she just keeps ignoring him and doing things she shouldn’t. Wouldn’t it be wise of her to have Aaron explain the things to her that her family neglected to? I know that he is technically the enemy of her family but he has knowledge that she needs.

Ruth is alive! (hide spoiler)]

53%

(view spoiler)[The Hunt family power is to bring food stores out of the air like little magic pockets? That’s weird.

I think that Ruth is right to ask why Aaron is still hanging around with Joan. I mean, their families are enemies. Their families were killed but he is experienced in the monster world so I just don’t know whe he is staying. Joan did save his life and he says that he owes her but that doesn’t feel like it’s the reason he’s there.

So why didn’t that Ying fellow take her necklace after telling her about the other timeline? And implied that her necklace was the key? He had some other interesting information as well. Like Aaron’s mother being executed and Joan’s mother being estranged. Does that mean that he mother isn’t dead like she thought?

It’s Nick! Okay, weird. Isn’t he supposed to be a human? How did he get to 1993? (hide spoiler)]

Jenn wrote: "Chapter 12: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yeah, it's nice that Ruth and Joan have been reunited. And it's suspicious that the records show that Joan wasn't supposed to have magic. But the records have been wrong about lots of things apparently. Why are they wrong? And I had the same thought about the king. Is her family connected to the king? Is that why her grandmother had the necklace? So many questions. (hide spoiler)]

72%

(view spoiler)[So Nick took her necklace. I think that they are right and he wants it to get into the monster court.

Nick was pretty stoic when he was sitting with Joan but I think that he was a little affected by her.

Tom is…interesting.

I really want to know why Aaron was disinherited.

Oh, okay. I thought that the Hunt family power was to hide food from that first scene but it can be anything. And they hide things in pockets in time? That’s kind of cooler than being able to hide food. =P

The king’s treasure room was not what they expected. I wonder who the prisoner was that had obviously been there? Perhaps it was Nick or Joan’s mother? (hide spoiler)]

Jenn wrote: "Chapter 18: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yes, I wonder why she has this special power. Everything is suspicious. (hide spoiler)]

Finished!

(view spoiler)[That ending. I don’t know how I feel about the epilogue. I mean, there are so many things unanswered:

Is Joan truly part human? Is she even a Hunt? If not, then how is she related to the Hunts? Was she adopted? Was her mother adopted? Or perhaps her mother was half Hunt and half something else but the other part was dominant like Aaron explained. If that were the case then she would really be related to the Hunts but she would have inherited the other family’s gift. I mean, it was mentioned that her mother was estranged from her family in 1993.
Is Nick really dead? I am going to go with not really because this is a series and there is more to be told. Perhaps the Nick from the other timeline will show up? And if either of them show up will they be mad about her killing/de-existencing him?
Is her power gone forever? And she really fucked with time when she zapped Nick out of existence, didn’t she? So many things were different afterward.
Who is Joan’s mother really? Was her mother the lady that tortured Nick and Jamie? Will Joan’s father ever find out about monsters?
Why was Aaron instructed to immediately kill anyone with Joan’s power?
Assuming Nick comes back into the story, where is the love triangle going to end up? Will the timeline still try to force Nick and Joan together and that is why he will show up? Are they truly meant to be together because they are “fated mates” or “soulmates”? And if they really are then could she ever have a chance with Aaron? I think that I liked Aaron with Joan more than Nick, although they both had their moments.
Why doesn’t the king ever leave?
And how did Nick time travel if he wasn’t a monster?!

I am sure that there are questions that I am missing. Even though this book left me with so many unanswered questions, I really liked it for the most part. I’ll definitely be reading the second book when it comes out! (hide spoiler)]

Jenn wrote: "Finished: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yes, this exactly. I had so many questions when I finished this book. (hide spoiler)]

♛Vanessa♛ wrote: "Jenn wrote: "Finished: [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

So many questions!!!!!! I really liked the premise but I felt that the execution needed work. It was a bit all over the place. And another thing that bothered me was the use of "monster", like why were they monsters? They didn't physically change, they just had powers of some sort. Haha so many questions

I don't mind rereading. :D